Trick r Treat (2007)
*** 1/2
I was scrolling my hard drive for something to watch tonight at midnight to kick off Horrorthon in the right way, and I came across this one that I remembered downloading when a bunch of you reviewed it last year (or was it the year before?). Anyway, I must not have had time to watch it before October was over, because I'd forgotten that it was on there.
I'm guessing that I put it off because it's an anthology movie, which I generally don't like: NY Stories, Four Rooms, Cat's Eye, etc. Meh. I feel like at best they usually achieve "cleverness." And this one certainly does do that, but it's also got a layer of atmosphere that unites the various vignettes in something close to a fun spooky organic whole.
And the atmosphere they go for here is kind of a quintessential mid-American Halloween vibe. Naturally, they set this in Ohio, which is pretty apt. This place is nutso for holidays generally, but Halloween in particular. There's corn mazes, and pumpkin patches, and haunted houses, and haunted corn mazes, and haunted pumpkin patches seemingly in every small town. And Athens, OH, does host a big costume street party that I think inspired some of the shots from the film. Like 30,000 folks coming in from all over "big."
My favorite bit in the movie is when Brian Cox is getting attacked by the Halloween spirit monster thing. Cox is laying on the floor, all bloodied and hurt and exhausted, but he's relieved as he's just emptied his double barrel into the monster, who seems clearly down for the count. But then a disembodied hand comes crawling around the corner, and Cox is laying there on his back, sees it, and just says in this exasperated tone, "Oh you gotta be fucking kidding me." And he nails it so it doesn't come across as silly movie banter--he's clearly still scared and in pain and all that...but he's also pissed off, and when you're pissed off and bleeding and terrified, you have to sort of curse out whatever brought this shit down on you, right?
Anyway, great start to Horrorthon 2011. I'm off!
11 comments:
Congrats on getting the first review out for the season! I'm very tired from staying up late watching one as well but I'll be damned if I know when I'll be able to post the review. I'm glad you liked Trick r Treat, I agree that it's the quintessential halloween flick (along with Halloween, of course) and I think I'll be watching it annually to get "in the mood".
Yay Landshark! Way to get that first review out. I tried to stay up but didn't make it. I opted rather, to get up insanely early this morning to get my first one in. Review will be up at some point.
Awesome, landshark! I really enjoyed this movie, too. Love seeing the first review!!
Nice one, Landshark! I didn't know Ohio was Halloween crazy. Trick r Treat really does a great job distilling that scary party vibe, as you say.
I stayed up but only finished my movie with several "oh crap, I just dozed off for a second and have to rewind" moments. Congrats on getting in the first review.
I love sam :)
They are talking sequel!
Wow that makes it the 11th review of Trick 'r Treat on Horrorthon! Way to dive right in Landshark. You're so right about Ohio being the perfect backdrop.
They fucking light up their houses for Easter here. Easter.
Middle America, man. Lawns mowed. Ice cream shoppes on every corner. And holiday decorations out their asses.
congrats on first blood, landshark! i love your "quality" theme this year, should make for a very enjoyable month!
This one is terrific. I am kinda a big baby when it comes to scary movies so this one set the perfect mood for me.
yeah, this one is all about good atmosphere. it's like someone wrote an ingredients list for a cake made out of halloween and this movie is that cake.
wow, my first sentence of Horrorthon 2011 sucked.
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